you're my wonderwall
by Seph Meadowes
Summary: -cause maybe you're gonna be the one that saves me- Two people who see others that aren't really there, we all cope in our own ways. Kol/Caroline. AU/AH. COMPLETE.


**Best read with the song Wonderwall. Any version is fine but I would recommend The Pretty Reckless' version.**

* * *

"Wearing that Batman costume for your first day of third grade, eating yellow-colored snow when you were ten, putting blue dye into Rebekah's shampoo and blaming in on Finn when you were twelve, filling the football captain's locker with cow manure when you were fourteen, skinny dipping with your girlfriend's best friend on said girlfriend's birthday when you were seventeen , sleeping with your professor's fiancée in your freshman year of college– all of those I warned you against and did you listen to me? No!" Klaus ranted exaggerating with many hand movements. "Because Kol Mikaelson does not listen and has to make poor choices _every single time_!"

Kol ignored the blond man following him as he moved from his room and down the stairs to the living room, passing by Rebekah who was talking/giggling on the phone with her boyfriend, Matt 'I'm boring as hell but all the girls want me cause I'm a sad, pathetic little shitard that has eyes like a fucking koala' Donovan.

"You know what? I excused your behavior then because you were a child but now, you're not. You're turning twenty this year, Kol, and as much as you hate to hear it, it is time to _grow up_."

Klaus did not let up as Kol entered the kitchen and opened the fridge, rifling through the Tupperware containers till he found the – ha! – Lasagna.

"Seriously, Kol, are you even listening to me?"

"Nope." Kol mumbled out from a mouthful of cheese and beef and pasta. "And I don't need to listen because as I've told you time and time again, Klausimodo, _I don't care_."

The sandy blonde scowled at him, green eyes glinting with murderous intent, jaw taut as his teeth grinded before he sighed and became Zen again. Kol had Klaus since he was eight and he sometimes just liked to mess with the guy's head and make him angry just for shit and giggles because, come on, Klaus was extremely fun to make angry. But ever since Rebekah bought all those books on the Zen lifestyle and Klaus decided that even after years of being around Kol's insufferable behavior he was quite close to just offing the little shit, he read the books and now nothing could get to him, _nothing_ which made Kol sad because he needed that dose of anger from Klaus' side to complete his day.

Klaus tried again, leaning on the island across Kol to look the tall boy in his dark eyes. "Look, like it or not, I'm the only person who gives a shit about whether or not you're ruining your life so for your sake will you just listen to me? For once?"

Kol looked down at his half-eaten lasagna and scowled.

It was a sad truth but Klaus was the only person he had really, ever since his parents' divorce and he moved in with his mom while his dad moved back to England. Elijah married his childhood sweetheart, Tatia Petrova, a few years later and they moved to Florida and Finn joined their dad's law firm after college, bringing his girlfriend Sage with him. Rebekah was still in high school but he rarely saw her ever since he started attending Duke. His mom….Well, Esther only cared about her charity work these days and what color the living room should be repainted.

So, yes, Klaus was really the only person he had. Only real friend, honestly since the majority of his peers from high school only called him for shallow things like parties during breaks and a hook-up with some random attractive girl. He didn't make friends in college though there were people around him all the time because he was the school's basketball star. He was all alone and he didn't mind it, chalking it up to being a loner by nature. Still, he had Klaus.

"What do you want me to do?" Kol asked and Klaus brightened up with a pleased smile.

"Why not get out of the house today? You've been cooped up here for the first week of the summer and the only time you've gone out is to take out the rubbish." Klaus gave him a pointed look. "It's time you spent time with people-" Kol opened his mouth to protest and Klaus hastily added. "-I mean _real _people. I don't count, remember?"

Kol gave an unhappy sigh but agreed anyway.

* * *

"That is your second bowl of cereal." Damon pointed out as Caroline poured herself more Cheerios into her bowl and pretended like she didn't hear him. "I get it that some girls eat out their feelings but I never considered you to be one of those pathetic mugs."

Caroline rolled her blue eyes and took a bite of her second bowl of breakfast, trying to ignore the dark-haired mail sat across her at the kitchen table. Damon's striking blue eyes narrowed and he moved to quickly before she could protest, snatching her bowl and jumping away towards the counter to dump the bowl in the sink. She ran after him but it was too late and she growled angrily at Damon, making him raise his hands in surrender.

"I'm just trying to do what's best for you, Blondie, and I know you'll hate yourself even more if I let you gain five pounds eating away your feelings of mediocrity because Tyler Lockwood dumped your sorry ass for some chick named Hayley."

Caroline growled once again and stomped away from the brunet bastard and ran up the stairs, he ran after her, shouting things as she covered her ears in an effort not to hear them. "You can't hide away in this house forever! You're wasting your youth watching crappy reality television and junk food!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Caroline went into her room and slammed the door loudly, trying to lock it in time but Damon moved too quickly again, pushing her out of the way as he kicked the door open.

"Just think, Tyler Lockwood is probably fucking his new girlfriend right now and what are you doing?" He gestured to her overall appearance. "Dressed like you shop at Forever Alone and not getting laid to get back at him."

She looked down at her baggy sweatpants and her dad's old too loose Princeton sweatshirt. She didn't see anything wrong with what she was wearing. Sure she'd never wear this in public but she was at home and no one was seeing her – save for Damon. But he didn't count!

"Not everyone has to fuck their brains out with a random hook-up because their seemingly perfect boyfriend turns out to be an ass!" Caroline protested, poking Damon harshly on the chest multiple times. He moved away and rubbed at the abused spot on his sternum.

"Well not everyone should be wallowing her summer away in her house, ignoring her best friends' worried calls, continuously baking (more like burning) desserts all day and refusing to make contact with any human beings she can make connections with!"

"I talk to you!"

"Oh, that's a rich argument," Damon scoffed. "You know I don't count!"

Caroline pouted, defeated, and looked down at the pink bunny slippers on her feet. Stupid Damon was always trying to tell her what to do. It'd been that way since she was eight and he came into her life. He was always trying to stop her from doing certain things. When she was younger, he got her into a lot of messes like making her break certain things or getting her to lie. He felt much like a malignant spirit but when she got older, he became better and was now her confidant and that meant he knew _everything_ about her and exploited it to make her do what she didn't want – like get out of the house and get laid with some random guy at the bar.

"You think you know what's good for me but you don't." Caroline said. "I've had a rough start to my summer, okay? And I need time…time to heal and recover and forget all about what that asshole did to me so please just leave it?"

Damon's impossibly blue eyes bore into her own so intensely for a minute longer than she could take before he reached up a tugged lightly on her messy ponytail.

"I understand, Caroline," Damon replied. "But I do know what's good for you. And right now, it's not hiding away from the world because your self-worth took a hit. You need to be around people and become that happy, bright ray of fucking sunshine that we all say we can't stand but secretly love."

Caroline's eyes began to water and her jaw quivered as she looked down and sniffed, willing everything in her not to cry.

Only Damon knew the true extent of how Tyler had hurt her. He had listened for _hours_ as she talked all about her inner turmoil, asking repeatedly where she went wrong. His answer: "He's an asshole who can't see what a damn amazing thing he had" and it made Caroline feel a bit better but it still stung that her high school boyfriend cheated and broke up with her after he decided that a long distance relationship was just not worth it after he moved to Florida this year.

Damon lifted her chin up with two fingers, making her eyes meet his. "Hey, it's going to be okay, alright? Just call Bonnie and Rebekah, go to a bar, drink, be happy, and forget. Be young, you deserve it."

Caroline wiped at her wet eyes with the back of her hand and nodded, moving past Damon to go downstairs and make a phone call.

* * *

So far, so fucking boring. And if there was one things Kol couldn't take, it was boredom. Go out and meet new people, Klaus said. You're wasting your summer, Klaus said. You need to take to real people and not a damnable persistent dickhead like him, Klaus said.

Okay, Klaus hadn't said the last part but he _should've _because Klaus _was_ a damnable persistent dickhead that had dragged Kol out of the house and into his car and made him drive to the Mystic Grill so he could 'socialize' with people there. So far, Kol had three drinks, half a dry burger and beaten some stupid high school boys at pool. Things he had all done before and he was soon sick of the repetitiveness and he just wanted to go home.

But _no_, Klaus would not have it. Kol had tried to grab his coat and walk out the bar but Klaus had stopped him by the door with the threat of drawing him erotic pictures of a naked Rebekah and posting it all over his room (how did Klaus even know how Bekah looked naked? _Wait_, he didn't want to know). The very idea had scared him so much he almost threw up the burger and even some of that lasagna earlier.

So there he was, playing pool by himself, kicking the ass of everyone who dared challenge him and all the while he gleefully imagined setting the entire bar on fire just for the sake of killing the boredom but thought – _nah, too much effort_.

Kol was about to tell Klaus to shove it up his insufferable ass when the sandy blond just stopped and looked at something across the room. Kol followed his gaze and saw –_ shit_ – Caroline Forbes. Rebekah's best frenemy, high school Queen Bee, future prom queen, head cheerleader, student body president and all those other accomplishments Kol tuned out when Rebekah explained them to him.

He'd known the preppy blonde since Rebekah brought her home for a sleepover when they were in kindergarten and he'd been steadily avoiding having a proper conversation with her since. She was too fucking perky and happy and _blonde_. Not that he had troubles with blondes, in fact he found them rather as appealing as girls with brunette or red hair (except for dyed neon colors because that was just tasteless), it's just she reminded him too much of a hummingbird who had to flutter it's wings with its terrifyingly fast beating heart beating on like it's on drugs. Her personality was like a bird high on blow and it scared him quite frankly.

"Isn't that Caroline also known as the girl that Kol is secretly attracted but won't admit it?" Klaus chirped as Kol watched Caroline stop at a table where her friend, Bonnie Bennett (who the boys called 'Sabrina, the teenage bitch). Caroline smiled widely at the brunette as she took a seat, instantly chatting up a storm,

Kol narrowed his eyes at Klaus who was smiling smugly. "Shut up and stop talking shit."

"You know I'm not if it's your moans of her name while you wank in the bathroom are any indication."

Kol blushed, _fucking blushed_, and glared hotly at the other man. "You listen to me wank?"

Klaus grimaced and shook his head. "No, I was watching TV in your room and you make noises like a porn star."

"I do not!"

"Whatever you say." Klaus went back to staring at Caroline. "Why don't you come over and talk to her? Catch up on how her life's like and such?"

"Why? Rebekah's gonna tell me later anyway when she's not gushing over that peasant boyfriend of hers."

Klaus narrowed his eyes at Kol.

Kol scowled. "No, I'm not doing it. _No_!"

"So I was thinking about the drawing I'm gonna do of Rebekah-"

"Fine!" Kol yelped, disgusted with wide, panicked eyes. "Just stop putting those images of _my sister_ in my head!"

Klaus made a gesture towards Caroline's direction. "You know what you have to do."

Kol gave him the finger before dropping the pool stick and heading over to where the hummingbird heartbeat girl was talking animatedly.

* * *

"I heard somewhere that Bonnie's getting frisky with her mom's stepson." Damon said from where he was standing behind Caroline, not minding that he was making her have two conversations at the same time. "Isn't that illegal? I mean, it is technically incest."

Caroline tried not to show that Damon's words were getting to her because Bonnie would notice and Caroline didn't want to ask her if she _was_ technically committing incest. That was a conversation she didn't want to have. Stupid Damon.

Caroline just continued to listen to Bonnie talk about her summer, talking a lot actually about her stepbrother. It was a little alarming. Stupid Damon.

"I heard somewhere as well that Bennett women are _freaks_ in bed. Like total animals, you know? Not like the utterly boring sex you and Tyler used to have. I mean like _really_ kinky stuff and – oh, incoming."

Caroline turned to see Kol Mikaelson approaching.

As in Kol Mikaelson, Rebekah's older brother, who played basketball at Duke University, was the Jock King of Mystic Falls High when he was in high school and was famous for the time he went skinny dipping with his girlfriend's best friend on her birthday and then publicly broke up with her the next day because she called him 'a self-centered, narcissistic sycophant man-whore with a plethora of issues'.

Caroline had been a freshman when that happened and she still remembered quite clearly that shining example of high school drama. In fact, she quite remembered every moment where she had seen Kol Mikaelson with his angelic looks and devilish nature. How he was on the basketball court, like a graceful panther just leading his pride to victory. The way his eyes would darken to a molten black when he was angry and lighten like milk chocolate when he was happy. And how just _devastatingly_ gorgeous he was.

Too bad he was an ass.

Rebekah caught her staring at her brother a few times when Caroline thought she wasn't looking and had promptly told her "Don't be a twit, Caroline" because let's admit it, Kol's ex wasn't too far off with her detailed description of it. He was probably just angry because she told the truth. And it stung like a bitch.

She tried not to scrunch her face into a sour expression when Kol stopped at their table with a not too sweet expression either. He smiled down at Bonnie for a second, making her all starry-eyed before he turned to Caroline, expression as blank as white walls. "Ladies. And how is your evening?"

Bonnie just gaped at Kol.

Caroline sighed inwardly and was thankfully not as star struck and looked up at Kol, exasperated. "Fine. Was there something you needed, Kol?"

"Oh no, nothing, just wanting to catch up with Bekah's friends," He nodded like happy with what the excuse he came up with. "So, uh, how's your summer been?"

Bonnie finally snapped out of her hypnotized state and replied to Kol's question. "Good actually. How has your summer been?"

"Good," He grinned down at her. "I heard you got reacquainted with your mom?"

Bonnie started telling her story and Kol pulled up a chair to sit down and listen. Meanwhile Caroline stared at them, feeling something that was akin to…no, she was not _jealous_. She couldn't be because Caroline Forbes did not have any fuzzy feelings for Kol Mikaelson except maybe disgust because he was such a man-whore. Look at him, flirting with Bonnie without any shame. Ooh, it made her sick.

"Somebody's tasting the jelly sandwich," Damon chimed in. "Still holding a flame for your best friend's brother? Such a cliché, Barbie, such a cliché."

"I do _not _hold a flame for anybody, _especially_ Kol!" She hissed as discreetly as possible but Kol and Bonnie were so absorbed in each other, she could be shouting and they probably wouldn't mind her.

"Then why do you have so many blog entries about _how luminescent his smile is and the way his hair frames his face Is like something out of a painter's dream and how his lean body makes you just want to wrap your arms around him and-"_

Caroline kicked him in the shins, _hard_.

Damon sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "That's it. You obviously won't listen to me. I'm just gonna go and leave you here alone with Mr. Handsome and your best friend who's stealing him away because you're too much of a pussy to even _try_ and-"

"_Damon_." Caroline said warningly.

Damon made a motion of zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key.

"Oh look, it's Klaus!" Damon suddenly exclaimed, getting up and walking away towards the pool table and live her feeling like a third wheel. Stupid Damon.

* * *

Kol was honestly not listening to anything the Bennett girl was trying to tell him because _God_, she was like one of those infomercials you see on the telly when you're bored and just waiting for it to be over so you can actually watch what you were sitting there for in the first place.

She wasn't that tedious, really. She was pretty and nice and quite sassy when she got into it but it would be just too easy. All he needed was too flash her that smirk of his that had girls dropping their knickers on command and tell her "You're so pretty and I've never felt this way about any girl before" and she was his.

Too easy.

He kept glancing to Caroline though who was muttering something and looking down murderously at the table like she planned on turning it into wood for a bonfire because it had offended her somehow.

Crazy that one.

And utterly dangerous.

Because girls like her with those wide blue eyes and hair like the fucking sun made you want to do stupid things like date seriously, eventually settling down and having a few brats that had eyes like hers. Those were the type of girls he'd stayed away from his whole life and he was not going to get involved with her and ruin his life. No matter how many times he'd just fantasized about what she'd look, feel and taste. Because damn it, Caroline Forbes was just so…so….

Fucking dangerous.

So, no, he refused. He would not. He could not. And only when Mel Gibson married a Jew.

"-and did you hear about what Tyler did to Caroline?"

He turned back to Bonnie. "What?"

"Bonnie!" Caroline protested at her friend who continued to answer Kol's question without her consent.

"Just before the summer, Tyler moved to Florida right? Well, when he got there, he met this girl named Hanna or something and he slept with her and broke up with Caroline a few days later."

Kol saw Caroline's face crumple and then go blank as she stared down at the table again as if willing it to come to life and drag her away from this humiliation.

"Is that true?" He asked her.

She looked up surprised that he was invested in her love life before answering with a self-deprecating smile. "Yeah. He's a dick."

"So, you're single now?"

Her blue eyes, so blue, held confusion. "Yeah…"

"And you're free to date whoever you want?"

"Mostly, yeah…" She stared at him, wondering what he was getting at. He didn't really know either. "But it just happened a week ago so I'm still not ready to date yet."

"Who said anything about dating?" Bonnie cut in. "I say you find a cute guy and sex him until you don't even remember your ex's name anymore."

Caroline looked like she was ready to protest but Kol put in."Bonnie's right. Trust me, rebound sex can be quite life-altering."

"In what ways?" Caroline looked skeptical, actually doubting _him_. "Do you consider yourself the so-called expert in rebound sex?"

He grinned a Cheshire smile at her. "Of course, honey, I wrote the book."

She narrowed her eyes in challenge. "Prove it."

He didn't know what he was doing. He was very close to hooking up with a blonde he's dimmed 'WARNING: KEEP AWAY FROM HEART' cause let's face it if he jumped in with her, there was no going back. And was he ready to get whipped like that?

He turned back to where Klaus was by the pool table, talking to thin air?

The blond met his eye for a moment and he remembered that day when he was eight and this man had appeared before him in his new room at his mother's new house after the divorce and Klaus had sat with him, talked and played and kept him company and he didn't care that only he could see him. It made him feel kind of special, like it was a secret only he had. And even when he got older, he was quite happy that Klaus hadn't disappeared like he said he would. Like he said he had to eventually, when Kol finally grew up.

But then he saw in his old friend's green eyes, something that almost made him feel sad: _Goodbye._ And it should've made him angry, despondent or even daunted but instead he just let it go. Because it felt like it was time.

He turned to Caroline with a grin and cemented that revelation with the words, "Your place or mine?"

* * *

Klaus and Damon stared as Kol and Caroline left the bar, his arm around her as she smiled constantly at whatever he was saying to her.

At the last minute though, they stopped at the door and Caroline turned towards them, eyeing Damon with a worried expression before he just smiled and gave her the thumbs up and mouthed "Go kill 'em, Barbie". She smiled, waved and then she and Kol were gone.

Damon felt something tighten in his chest and he sighed. It always hurt to let kids go but he knew he had to do it. Go when they open the door. They wouldn't need him forever, always. And he had to accept the fact even when he never felt like he was ready.

"I spent ten years with that kid and it never gets easier." Damon said. "I'm kind of worried though, do you think she'll be okay?"

"After that accident and death of her friend Elena, you spent so many years making sure she'd be okay. She's ready. _Let go already_." Klaus replied. "I spent just as much time making sure my brat grew up well. It was a challenge, I tell you, but your kid will straighten mine out."

"What if they break up and-"

"Damon, let it go."

Damon sighed. "You're right. You're right. I always have such a hard time letting go, can't help it."

Klaus patted him on the back, grinning at him. "I understand, mate, completely."

Damon let a moment of comfortable silence overlap them, just remembering so many memories and details about that blonde little girl who cried into his arms at her friend's funeral at eight because she _couldn't _understand why her beautiful, sweet friend had to die and all he could do was be there for her and help her become the person she was meant to be and when she was finally ready, let go of her to live her life.

"So, do you want to get a drink? Or do you want to get started on that one?" Klaus pointed at a lonely Bonnie who was all alone at her table now.

Damon stared at the brunette for a moment before shaking his head. "Drink first."

* * *

**This was inspired by a Cecelia Ahern book called If You Could See Me Now and two movies, Drop Dead Fred and Paper Man. They all got me interested in the idea of imaginary friends and since I never had one as a child. I was even more fascinated. Hope I didn't confuse you too much. **

**This was an exercise in writing from Kol's perspective and taking a break from Persephone because all the angst is straining for me and I wanted to write something lighter. **

**The whole theme of the story is having someone to save you from the cruelty and darkness of the world and eventually when you get older, from yourself. Imaginary friends like Klaus and Damon I think every kid should've had and then we outgrow them and start connecting with real people because we have to wake up soon and become adults.**

**Also, I like to imagine that Klaus and Damon had been plotting to get their brats together since the first day. I wish I had an imaginary friend like them because it would've helped a lot when I was younger. Heck, I want one now!**

**Review and tell me what you think?**


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